The present invention relates generally to integrated circuit continuous-time analog filters. More specifically, the present invention provides a completely tunable second order low-pass filter with minimal active circuitry.
Analog filters are essential to the operation of most electronic circuits and are often used to separate signals from noise. In general, an analog filter is an electrical network that alters the amplitude and/or phase characteristics of a signal with respect to frequency to freely transmit the signal within one or more frequency bands and to attenuate signals of other frequencies.
There are five basic filter types according to the frequency bands: all-pass, bandpass, notch, low-pass, and high-pass. An all-pass filter has no effect on the amplitude of the signal at different frequencies and its function is to simply change the phase of the signal without affecting its amplitude. The other four filter types freely transmit or pass signals falling within a relatively narrow band of frequencies and attenuate signals outside of that band. The range of frequencies passed by a filter is known as the filter""s passband, and the range of frequencies over which unwanted signals are attenuated is known as the filter""s stopband. A bandpass filter has two stopbands, one above and one below the passband, while a notch filter has effectively the opposite function, with two passbands, one above and one below the stopband. The low-pass and high-pass filters have one passband and one stopband each, with the low-pass filter passing all low frequency signals up to some specified frequency, known as the cutoff frequency, and attenuating high frequency signals, and the high-pass filter rejecting low frequency signals below the cutoff frequency and passing all high frequency signals above that frequency.
Low-pass filters are widely employed in many diverse applications, whenever high frequency components must be removed from a signal. Examples usually involve some form of noise suppression, such as in broadband communications, audio systems, and satellite imagery. Low-pass filter designs are in general used as the basis of other filter designs, and high-pass or band-pass filters are often simply transformations from low-pass filter designs.
An ideal low-pass filter design would exhibit a perfectly flat response in its passband and infinite attenuation in its stopband, with a rapid transition from passband to stopband. In practice, however, the ideal low-pass filter can only be approximated. Achieving a desired filter performance often involves careful selection and tuning of filter components. The amplitude response characteristics can be improved by increasing the order of the filter, which is directly related to the number of components in the filter, and therefore to its cost, its physical size, and the design complexity. The primary advantage of a higher-order filter is that it has a steeper transition from passband to stopband than a similar lower-order filter. In general, second order filters are considered the simplest, and can be easily cascaded to form higher order filters. Another parameter used to describe the performance of a filter is the filter""s xe2x80x9cQxe2x80x9d, or Q factor. The Q factor indicates the sharpness of the amplitude response in the region near the cutoff frequency and the width of the frequency band around that frequency. When the Q is high, the amplitude response is sharply focused around a peak corresponding to the cutoff frequency (narrow width), and when the Q is low, the amplitude response is flat and tapers off slowly to the stopband. A Q value of 0.707 results in a maximally flat response. Low-pass filters are typically designed to satisfy a given cutoff frequency and to achieve a desired Q, cost, and complexity.
Conventional analog low-pass filter implementations comprise networks of resistors, capacitors, and inductors. These filters are usually referred to as passive filters for their lack of amplifying elements, which means the filters cannot provide signal gain. In addition, these filters can be complex, time-consuming, and expensive to design due to the difficulty in tuning the inductors to provide the accuracy desired.
The recent availability of integrated circuit (IC) operational amplifiers (op-amps) has made it possible to design low-pass filters without inductors, thereby reducing the problems associated with those components. These filters are referred to as active filters, for their use of amplifying elements, and are usually easier to design than passive filters. In addition, active filters can achieve any arbitrary gain.
There are several known active filter configurations for designing low-pass filters. One of the most widely used is the signal inverting multiple feedback (MFB) circuit for designing a second order low-pass filter. The MFB circuit uses one op-amp and two capacitors to achieve a second order filter and is simple to design. However, as an integrated circuit, the MFB 2nd nd order low-pass filter is very limited, and has several drawbacks.
First, the achievable DC gain and Q factor are very constrained, and can be increased from the initial design by only about 25% once the op-amp and capacitors are integrated. This results in difficult tunability of filter components for flexibility of cutoff frequency, DC gain, and Q factor. Second, the ratio of capacitor values to achieve a certain Q factor for Q greater than 1, may be quite large, making it difficult to match the capacitors for a good degree of accuracy. And lastly, the total capacitance required by the MFB circuit is fairly high, which results in a higher manufacturing cost as well as in a larger die area.
In view of the foregoing drawbacks of designing a second order MFB low-pass filter, it would be desirable to provide a completely tunable second order low-pass filter with minimal active circuitry.
It would further be desirable to provide a second order low-pass filter with a lower capacitance and capacitance ratio than the second order MFB low-pass filter.
It would still further be desirable to provide a second order low-pass filter in which the filter parameters are defined by three resistors and the area devoted to active circuitry is much smaller than in other fully programmable low-pass circuit configurations.
It would also be desirable to provide a second order low-pass filter that may be easily cascaded to form higher order filters.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a completely tunable second order low-pass filter with minimal active circuitry.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a second order low-pass filter with a lower capacitance and capacitance ratio than the second order MFB low-pass filter.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a second order low-pass filter in which the filter parameters are defined by three resistors and the area devoted to active circuitry is much smaller than in other fully programmable low-pass circuit configurations.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a second order low-pass filter that may be easily cascaded to form higher order filters.
These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by providing a completely tunable second order low-pass filter with minimal active circuitry. The filter design enables a very flexible choice of filter parameters such as cutoff frequency, DC gain, and Q factor, by selecting appropriate resistor values for a single integrated circuit.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention involves inserting a positive feedback loop in the second order MFB low-pass filter circuit configuration. The positive feedback loop is preferably realized with an inverting gain amplifier incorporated into the active circuitry. With the positive feedback, the integrated circuit becomes a fully programmable second order low-pass filter building block that provides a very flexible choice of filter parameters.
Advantageously, the present invention requires much lower capacitance and capacitance ratio than the MFB low-pass circuit, and much smaller active circuitry area than other fully programmable low-pass circuit configurations, including the Tow-Thomas and state variable filters.
In addition, the present invention enables the second order filter to be easily cascaded to form higher order filters.